Sherlock's Identity
by PhoenixNephilm4
Summary: Sherlock Holmes: The World's only and best consulting detective, and the most obnoxious human John Watson: Wizard, Sherlock's protector and one of four people who know the truth about the detective... Sherlock Holmes is not who he thinks he is...
1. Sherlock's Identity

**Sherlock's Identity**

Sherlock Holmes twisted the small pocket watch over and over in his hands. It had been a long time since he had ever been intrigued by something so small. He was curious about the markings, how old it was and where it had come from. But above all, he was most curious about why John had kept it locked in his desk drawer. The locked drawer had been bothering Sherlock for weeks, because he didn't see what John needed to hide from him. And so, when John had gone to the shops, he had seized his chance and picked the lock. He had been slightly disappointed at the contents, which had turned out to be a collection of photos of John's family in an album, some letters from his sister, a slim wooden stick (which had hummed and felt warm to Sherlock's hand when he had picked it up) and this pocket watch, which in Sherlock's mind was more intriguing than the stick that clearly possessed special properties. He ran his thumb over the watch again, feeling the engraved markings. He wondered what they meant. They were clearly a different kind of language, and it struck him that they might not be from Earth at all. He pushed the idea out of his mind quickly. It was impossible for the watch to have come from anywhere other than some jeweller's, right?

Still, he wondered.

John came home to find Sherlock crouched on the floor beside the bottom drawer of John's desk, which was open. John stepped forward to see what Sherlock was holding.

"What do you think you're doing, going through my desk?" he demanded.

Sherlock grunted. "It was bothering me. I wanted to know what you wanted to keep locked up away from me" he replied, still twisting the pocket watch over in his hands.

The movement caught John's attention, and he paled. Of course, out of all the objects in the drawer, it would have to be the watch that caught the consulting detective's attention.

"Put that back" he said, his voice shaking slightly. Sherlock ignored him, continuing to examine the watch carefully. "I said put it back"

"I heard you. I'm just choosing to ignore you" Sherlock replied. A sudden thought occurred to John, and he paled even more.

"You... you didn't open it, did you?" he asked uncertainly. Sherlock looked up at that.

"No, I haven't opened it yet. Why? Is there something inside?"

"Um... yes" John mumbled, knowing there was no point in lying.

"Something important, I presume? You've gone very pale and seemed panicked at the thought I had opened it"

"Yes, something important. Something very important"

"Are you going to tell me what it is, or am I going to have to open it and find out?"

"No! Don't open it yet! You... you aren't ready! I'm not ready!"

"Ready for what? And I think it is my place to decide when I am ready for something rather than yours. Is it hollow, perhaps, containing the key to your secret porn collection?"

"I don't have a porn collection, Sherlock, you know that"

"I know, I'm just teasing you. I can tell by the weight of it that it's not hollow. It's a pocket watch, yes, with an actual clock face inside. But there's something else in there as well that you want to hide from me. The question is, what?" Sherlock mused, looking back down at the watch. John saw his fingers brush against the catch on the side, and he darted forward, pulling the slim wooden stick from the open drawer and pointing it at Sherlock.

"Put the watch back. You are not ready. It's not safe to open it yet, and unless you do as I say, I will force you"

"Force me with what? Your stick?" Sherlock snorted with laughter at the idea, causing John to sigh.

"Yes, with this. It's not a stick, you daft dimbo. Surely you've worked that out by now?"

"Well, when I touched it earlier, it was warm and seemed to hum slightly. I'm now going to make a guess based on this observation"

"And your guess is what?" John asked, still pointing the 'stick' at Sherlock.

"My guess is that you have lied to me for the past year. You possess what is clearly a magic wand, and that you are, in fact, a wizard, who is a damn good liar" Sherlock replied, and John sighed, lowering the wand slightly.

"Yes, you're right, I am a wizard and I lied to you. I'm sorry, but those were my instructions. I did it to protect you. I'm still protecting you. Now put the watch back please, and don't whatever you do, open it"

"Is the watch dangerous?" Sherlock asked, turning away and placing the watch back in the drawer carefully. John relaxed as soon as it was out of his hands.

"In the wrong hands, most definitely, yes"

"And I'm the wrong hands?"

"No, no, quite the opposite. But if you open it, you will be in great danger"

"Right, thanks" Sherlock stood, watching John crouch down and tap the lock on the drawer with his wand.

"There. No more lock picking please" he said, straightening and sliding the wand into the inside pocket of his jacket. Sherlock was watching him closely, and John sighed.

"I suppose you want to know what else I've lied to you about" he said quietly, and Sherlock nodded, settling himself into his armchair and watching as John sat down opposite. "I've pretty much lied to you about my whole life, Sherlock, I'm sorry. I didn't go to a grammar school. I went to a wizard school called Hogwarts. After school I didn't go into medicine really. I did some medicinal training as a wizard, and it just happens that some of the methods can be applied to normal people, who we call muggles. I then went into Auror training, which is basically training to capture dark wizards. I was diploid to Afghanistan, but my mission was to capture a dark wizard. Unfortunately, I was shot in the process, and only after I returned to my work in London as an Auror did your name reach my ears"

"And why would my name bear any importance in your world?"

"It shouldn't, normally, but considering who you are it is no surprise. I was hired to look after you"

"By whom?"

"Your brother, of course. You remember the first time you met me?"

"It seems I shall be having a talk with my dear brother about this. And of course I remember. It was in Bart's lab, and you came limping in with Mike Stamford"

"Do not talk to your brother until you have heard the whole story. And we did not meet in Bart's hospital. That was all a lie, planted in your mind to remove the truth"

"Then what is the truth? Or are you under some oath to not tell me about my own life?"

"No, I can tell you. Mycroft took me to meet you where you had been hiding in a drug den with a bunch of homeless drug addicts. You hadn't been there long, but the fact you had chosen to hide yourself there was worrying your brother. We took you out, got you cleaned up, stuck you in rehab for a few months. When you recovered you moved in here, and we planted the memory of us meeting at Bart's in your mind, and erased the truth from you"

"I see. I suppose that is why Lestrade always insists on conducting drug busts in my flat? Because I once ended up in rehab for an addiction I will never remember?"

"Yes, that's why. There are only four people in the world that know the truth about you, Sherlock. And you are not one of them"

"What the hell? So everyone knows about my life, knows the truth, except for me? How can I not know my own life?" Sherlock demanded.

"You do not know because it was safer for you to forget. And like I said, only four people know the truth. And you will know, one day, hopefully soon, when the threat has been eliminated"

"Who are these four people?"

"One of them is me, obviously. Another is your brother, again, obviously. The third is Lestrade, who Mycroft deemed as trustworthy and reliable. The fourth is Mrs Hudson"

"Mrs Hudson knows?"

"Of course she does. She knows exactly who lives up here"

"What about the threat?"

"Will soon be dealt with. I did not just go to the shops. I was picked up by Mycroft, who had captured the aforementioned threat. This threat will be eliminated within the week, and then I promise you, you will learn the truth. In the mean time, try and forget about it"

"Forget about the fact my whole life is one great big lie with you, my brother, my landlady and a police inspector at the heart of it laughing at my ignorance?"

"Yes, that. I can always make you forget, if you like" John smirked, pulling out the wand again and twisting it through his fingers.

"Don't you dare cast some sort of spell on me again" Sherlock said quietly, his eyes on the wand, watching apprehensively.

"Don't worry, I won't. And you aren't the only one looking forward to the day the threat is dealt with. I never actually met the real you"

"Real me? What am I, imaginary? Is my name really Sherlock Holmes, or is that a lie as well?"

"No, that bits true. Your name is Sherlock Holmes. The rest of it, your past, what you think you remember, is not"

"So I'm not a consulting detective?" Sherlock pouted, saddened at the thought that his career might be fake.

"You are a consulting detective, much to your brother's annoyance. The idea was to keep you hidden and out of the public eye, not in the papers every week for solving murders. It took a great deal of work to cover that up as much as possible, but your career does have its uses. Sherlock Holmes the consulting detective is a perfect smokescreen to conceal your true identity"

"Which only four people know, none of which happen to actually be me" Sherlock muttered.

"You're catching on quick. I promise though, Sherlock, that as soon as possible, you will learn the truth"

"Does that mean you really are my best friend? You didn't cast some spell on me to make me your friend?"

"I would never do that, Sherlock. That is one of the few things I have never lied about. I am your best friend, and I will always be here for you"

* * *

Tap. Tap. Tap.

John was woken by a consistent tapping sound on his bedroom window. He stumbled across the room and opened the curtains to see his owl perched on the window sill outside, looking up at him with inquisitive eyes. John smiled and opened the window, and the owl soared into the room over to the open cage in the corner, hooting quietly. John stepped forward and ran his fingers across the bird's feathers, and the owl held out his leg, to which a scroll was attached.

"Straight down to business, then? You don't change, eh, Thracius?" John chuckled as he detached the scroll. Thracius the owl hooted loudly as though to tell him to hurry up.

"Keep your voice down! Sherlock will hear and there will be trouble" John hissed, finally succeeding in detaching the scroll and opening it.

_John, The threat has been eliminated. It is time for Sherlock to open the watch. You must stay with him. This is an important step and he will need you with him to cope with it. His memories will come back, and his behaviour may change slightly, but do not panic. That is normal, and he will still be the same Sherlock, just slightly different from before. Contact me if there are any problems -MH_

John sighed, feeling a slightly twinge of excitement at getting to meet the real Sherlock rather than the one he lived with at the moment. John had stopped stroking Thracius, who had gotten impatient and nipped his finger. He jumped and looked from his bleeding finger to his owl, who stared back at him.

"What was that for? I haven't got anything to reply to this, so you can go back out if you want" Thracius gave him a look, and hooted loudly. John realised what the bird was trying to say, and laughed, running his hand gently over the smooth feathers and holding out an owl treat. "You know me so well, Thracius. I'd better be going. I'll leave the window open for you if you want to go for a flight" he said, putting the scroll away and opening the door, heading downstairs. Sherlock was typing on his laptop, crouched in his armchair like an overgrown gargoyle. He looked up when John walked in.

"Morning John. Did I hear a bird?" he asked.

"Um, yeah, you did. Thracius, my owl had a letter for me and was being impatient. He reminds me of you, sometimes" John replied, opening the desk drawer and picking up the watch.

"Right, thanks. I'm being compared to an owl"

"Not for long you won't be. The letter was from Mycroft" John said, and Sherlock's head snapped up as John sat down opposite him.

"What does he want?"

"The threat has been eliminated. It's time" John said quietly, holding out the pocket watch. Sherlock moved his laptop aside, his latest website post forgotten as he reached out and carefully took the watch from John. He turned it over in his hands, staring at it.

"What now?" he asked. "Are you going to tell me the truth? Is this watch mine, then?"

"Of course it's yours. It always has been"

"Can I hear the truth now then?"

"Yes, when you open the watch. Your memories will come back, and you will remember everything that you have forgotten"

"Will it hurt?" the childish question escaped Sherlock's mouth before he had the chance to stop it, and he cursed himself for asking something so stupid.

"It might hurt a bit. I don't know what to expect, really"

"Right, okay. So all I have to do is open the watch?"

"Yes. If you're that worried about it I'll call Mycroft over here so he can be with you"

"Absolutely not. I don't need him. I'm fine" Sherlock snapped. He looked up at John suddenly. "Will this change who I am?"

"A little. Your memories and some of your behaviours will change, but you'll still relatively be the same Sherlock"

"John, if something happens, and I end up changing completely or something, I'm glad I met you. I'm glad you looked after me this past year. I suppose what I'm trying to say is John I-" his finger slipped on the catch of the watch, and it popped open. He looked down in surprise as golden light flowed out of the watch and towards him, flowing inside his mouth, his nostrils, his eyes and his ears, filling him slowly with his true identity, his memories and altering his body systems slightly. John watched, fascinated, trying to ignore the slight twinge he felt that Sherlock had been cut off just before he confessed his love for John. The light continued to enter his friend's body, and Sherlock's face twisted to a grimace as the light faded and he slumped down in his chair unconscious, the watch still open in his hand. Now that the watch was empty, John could see it was just a regular watch, showing the time, but he knew that before it had contained the essence of Sherlock Holmes and who he really was. He leaned forward, anxious for his friend.

"Sherlock?" he asked quietly. Sherlock's body emitted a faint glow, and his eyes snapped open, blazing bright gold. He blinked, and the light faded, and his eyes, now back to their regular grey, locked onto John crouched beside him. "John..." he mumbled, struggling into a sitting position.

"How are you feeling, Sherlock?" John asked anxiously.

"I... I... forgive you"

"For what?"

"Lying to me... it was for my protection. I understand that now. Thank you"

"That's alright"

"I remember everything... so many planets, so many stars, so many different life forms... I remember it all, my past, my home, you, the threat..."

"Good to hear"

"I'm a Time Lord, John" Sherlock breathed, his eyes wide with wonder as he touched first the left side of his chest, and then the right side, feeling his two heartbeats. He beckoned John closer, and took John's hand, placing it against him so John could feel the two heartbeats, pounding a rhythm of four beats, the strong heartbeat of a Time Lord.

"That is pretty freaky, I must admit" John said, stepping back again, causing Sherlock to laugh.

"Oh, I suppose for someone like you it is. It may take me awhile to get used to being me again. I have missed this though. How long was I human? A year? Seems like at least a decade. Oh well. I suppose you already knew"

"I knew you were a Time Lord, yes. I knew that Time Lords have two hearts. I know you're immortal. Other than that, I don't know much"

"It seems that my brother merely scratched the surface with you. Time Lords have two hearts and are immortal, and we're from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. In case you're wondering, I'm two hundred and sixty one years old"

"Two hundred and sixty one, huh? Looking good for that age" John smirked.

"Thank you. Now, anything else of mine that you've got tucked away somewhere?" Sherlock asked, standing and pacing the room, his eyes roaming over everything as John hurried back to his room. Sherlock's gaze settled on the skull on the mantle, and remembered calling it Billy. He ran his fingers over the top of the skull, and sighed, before lifting it up and touching it with the tip of his tongue. He mulled the flavour over for a moment, and John, who had re-entered the room, snorted.

"Any particular reason why you're licking Billy the skull?" he asked. Sherlock set the skull back down and turned to his friend.

"I can taste how old things are. Billy comes from the future. Exactly two hundred and four years into the future, assuming I am correct that it is the year 2011"

"Yeah, it's 2011. No more licking stuff, please, it's weird" John said, handing over a small wooden box, on which was engraved the same symbols as the watch Sherlock had put into his pocket.

"Fine. In case you were wondering, because I remember wondering myself when I was human, these symbols spell out my name in Gallifreyan" he said, taking the box and sitting down again with the box resting on his knees. John watched him run his fingers over the box, examining it.

"I could never open the damn thing. Mycroft told me it was yours and to give it to you when you, as he put it, 'woke up' but I was curious. Nothing I tried could open it"

"That's because it's mine, idiot. Only I can open it. Even Mycroft can't get in here. He shouldn't need to, though, he has his own box. They were gifts from our parents when we were younger" Sherlock replied, running his fingers along the side of the box where the catch should have been, before gently lifting the lid. John peered across to see what was inside. A slim pen like object with a red tip, a key, and a scroll of paper, which is what Sherlock lifted out first. John peered over his shoulder to see what was written, and was disappointed that it was more of the Gallifreyan symbols that he couldn't read. Sherlock glanced at him with a smirk.

"I'll read it out to you, if you're that nosy" he said, before clearing his throat and beginning to read. "Future me. The threat of the crime lord Maulin (also known as Magnussen) has reached breaking point. He will stop at nothing until I am dead. Therefore I am going into hiding. If you read this note, know that you are safe and the threat has been eliminated. Good luck future me, and may my future be more prosperous than it has been so far. Sherlock Holmes"

John sighed quietly. He had known, of course, that there was someone threatening Sherlock, hence why he had become human to hide. He wondered what Mycroft had done to the crime lord mentioned in the letter.

"What do you think happened to Magnussen?" he asked out loud, and Sherlock looked up thoughtfully.

"Magnussen? Oh, you mean Maulin. I remember Mycroft working hard to capture him, and the fact I have been allowed to return to myself means that he is most likely dead"

"Oh. Why did he want to kill you?" John asked, feeling a twinge of anger that someone had been threatening his best friend who was under his protection.

"He had heard that killing a Time Lord means that the killer receives a whole wealth of knowledge and power from said Time Lord. He had been searching for a Time Lord to test this on and had failed because there are not many of us who escaped the Time War alive. It was chance that he bumped into me outside the Ninth Annual meeting on Titan. He knocked me down, and, thinking I was a human who had been invited to the meeting, touched my wrist to take my pulse. The instant he touched me I knew he was the one I had been warned about, and I ran away from him. He'd been following me ever since, and so Mycroft and I journeyed to Earth to hide. Maulin didn't want Mycroft, he wanted me. It was my idea to use the Chameleon Arch and the watch to become human, and Mycroft agreed, telling me that the first thing I must do was hide somewhere I wouldn't be found. This was the last thing I carried over into my life as a human, and I now remember the drug den, and meeting you. It's a bit blurry, but I think I remember you sitting with me through rehab as well"

"I did sit with you through rehab. You would kick up such a fuss if I tried to leave, so they let me stay with you. But you're safe now. Maulin or Magnussen or whatever his name is has gone, and you are safe"

"For now, yes. However, trouble always seems to find me" Sherlock mused, running his fingers through his hair with a sigh.

"Well, it's a good thing you've got me then" John said, and Sherlock laughed.

"Indeed. Where would I be without my wizard friend?"

"In the hands of Maulin, dead, most likely"

"The question was rhetorical, but never mind. I suppose my brother is going to visit?"

"Maybe. I don't know. Maybe we should go and see him?" John suggested, earning a sigh from the Time Lord.

"Fine. Give me a minute" he said, tucking the pen device, the key and the scroll into his pocket before pulling on his coat, flicking up his collar as he did so.

"I never understood why you flicked your collar up like that" John remarked, and Sherlock shrugged.

"Habit. I don't know why I do it either" he said. "Ready? Got your wand?"

"Sure. And why do you suddenly care if I'm carrying my wand or not?" John asked as they headed downstairs.

"Because if we're attacked, you're the one meant to be protecting me" Sherlock replied as Mrs Hudson emerged from her flat.

"Where are you two boys off to then?" she asked.

"To see my brother. I'm back to myself now" Sherlock said quietly, stepping forward and hugging her. She could feel the two hearts beating strongly, and laughed.

"Good to hear, Sherlock. Although those hearts... they're something else entirely" "Hmm yes. Anyway, we'd better get going. See you later" Sherlock stepped back and turned towards the door.

"Keep him out of trouble" Mrs Hudson whispered to John, who laughed.

"I always do" he replied as Sherlock flung open the door and strode outside, breathing in deeply.

"Ahh, nice to get some air in these lungs" he muttered as John hailed a taxi.

"I bet it is. Come on" he replied, shoving Sherlock into the taxi and clambering in after him. Sherlock smiled at John widely.

"You're a good friend, John. I'm glad you were the one looking after me"

"Not a problem. It may also interest you to know that I did it for nothing. Mycroft offered me payment, but I didn't take it"

"Of course he offered you payment. He was hiring you to be my bodyguard in a sense. And it doesn't matter. You're a good person, John"

"Thank you"

Sherlock and John were shown into a private room, and were joined a moment later by Mycroft, who smiled widely at his brother.

"Good to see you again, brother mine" he said, and Sherlock snorted.

"Yeah, right. You were probably hoping you could leave me stuck as an obnoxious human forever"

"On the contrary, Sherlock, I was looking forward to the moment when you changed from an obnoxious human back into an even more obnoxious Time Lord" Mycroft replied. "How are you?"

"I'm better than ever, thanks for asking. I have missed this life"

"I bet you have"

"What did you do to Maulin, then?" Sherlock asked, twisting his now empty pocket watch through his fingers.

"It took us a long time to capture him. And we simply... dispatched him in the most humane way possible"

"We? You weren't working alone then. And how humanely?"

"Simple bullet wound to the head, dead in a split second. His belongings were burnt in order to prevent several files about yourself falling into the wrong hands"

"Fair enough. Who do you work with then?" Sherlock asked, just as the door opened and a young man with a long brown fringe flopping into his eyes walked in. Sherlock stood, grinning as he recognized the man.

"New face again, Doctor? I might have known it would be you that was working with my brother" he said, and the man, the Doctor, laughed.

"Of course it was me, what did you expect? Someone threatened my little cousin, they pay for it"

"That doesn't sound like you. You're usually against killing anyone or anything, criminal or otherwise"

"Yeah, but this was a bit more personal. He was threatening my favourite cousin" the Doctor said. Mycroft cleared his throat and raised his eyebrow. "Sorry, Mike, but it's true. Sherlock is the number one in this case. And who might you be?" the Doctor asked, peering over Sherlock's shoulder at John, who was stood quietly behind him.

"Oh, this is my friend and bodyguard John, who looked after me in my time as a human" Sherlock said. "John, this is the Doctor, my older cousin"

"Hello John. Nice to meet you, and thank you for keeping my cousin out of trouble"

"No problem"

"And you're a wizard as well, I see? Excellent stuff. Mike said he'd hired a top notch bodyguard"

"Thank you. Sherlock's safety has always been a priority" John said with a smile. Sherlock winked at him, and turned back to his brother.

"Well then, brother mine, where is it?"

"Where's what?" Mycroft asked innocently.

"Don't give me that. My TARDIS. Where is it?"

"Ah, your TARDIS. Your TARDIS is in a compound, and you are not going anywhere"

"What, why?" Sherlock demanded.

"You have to stay here like a good boy and learn to behave. If you hadn't insisted on going to that sodding meeting, none of this would have happened"

"Shut up. Of course you would have preferred Maulin to chase you or the Doctor instead"

"Well, yes, obviously"

"Git. I'm fine now, look, Maulin is gone" Sherlock snapped, turning and striding from the room. John nodded to the two Time Lords and hurried after Sherlock, who he found leaning against the wall outside the building.

"Sherlock? Are you okay?" John asked, anxiously reaching out and touching his friend's arm. Sherlock flinched.

"I'm fine, John"

"Don't lie to me"

"I'm not lying"

"Yes you are. I've got some truth potion that I will force down your throat unless you tell me what it is" John said, earning a sigh from the Time Lord.

"I doubt you could manage to get me to swallow it. And I'm annoyed at the fact Mycroft doesn't trust me with my own TARDIS"

"That's your spaceship, right?" John asked as they started to walk back up to the main road to catch a taxi.

"Yeah, it is. Time and Space machine, all mine. I'm half convinced Mycroft is keeping it because he doesn't have his own"

"So he's stealing yours? Bit unfair"

"Hmm. He's only keeping it in a compound because he can't get into it. That's why I left the key locked in my box"

"Right. What now?"

"I return to my detective work, of course. Moriarty's trial is tomorrow" Sherlock replied as they caught a taxi.

"You aren't seriously going to Moriarty's trial after today?"

"Why shouldn't I? I'm still the same person, just... with a lot more memories and two hearts"

"Yeah, but he's going to destroy you, remember? He's going to burn the heart out of you" John reminded him.

"Doesn't matter I've got a spare" Sherlock replied, patting the right side of his chest.

"I'm serious, Sherlock, he is going to destroy you"

"Hmm many people have tried that before... none of them succeeded" Sherlock said as the taxi took them home again.

"This is Moriarty we're talking about, Sherlock"

"Doesn't matter, John, I know what I'm doing, I'll be fine, okay?"

"I still worry about you. I have to keep you safe, remember?"

"John, I admire how much you are willing to protect me, but tell me, if I were still human would you let me carry on and attend the trial?" Sherlock asked quietly.

"I don't know. Maybe"

"I was even more fragile then than I am now. I will be fine" Sherlock said as they pulled up outside Baker Street. John paid the driver and followed Sherlock inside. Mrs Hudson came bustling out.

"Oh, Sherlock, there's a gentleman from the police here to see you" she said, and Sherlock huffed as he bounded upstairs, followed by John. They found Lestrade lounging on the sofa, and Sherlock huffed again.

"What do you want Gavin?" he asked, flopping n his arm chair.

"It's Greg, when are you ever going to remember that?" Lestrade asked.

"Greg. Whatever. What are you doing in my flat?"

"I heard someone was back to themselves and wanted to see if it was true"

"Oh for goodness sake I am not a bloody specimen to be examined all the time! Yes, I'm back to normal. Now get out" Sherlock huffed, earning himself a glare from John.

"That wasn't just why I came. I also came to warn you that there will be a lot of press outside your front door tomorrow, so I've arranged for a police car to pick you up and take you to the trial"

"Fine. Whatever"

"I'd better be going then. Before I do, mind if I take your pulse? I'm curious about this two heart thing" Lestrade said, and Sherlock huffed and allowed the inspector to place two fingers against his neck. He shook his head and stepped back.

"Weird and yet amazing. See you tomorrow. Try not to be rude" Lestrade said as he walked out the door.

"I'm not rude, am I, John?" Sherlock asked.

"Only most of the time. Occasionally you have these moments where you're incredibly polite and it's possible to forgive you for anything" John replied.

"Right, thanks" he rested his head back with a sigh.

"Something wrong?" John asked.

"No, no, perfectly fine"

"Worried about the trial?" John asked.

"Whatever for? Moriarty's guilty, he's going to jail, end of"

* * *

"Do you think you could possibly survive for just a few minutes WITHOUT SHOWING OFF?" The judge shouted. Sherlock glanced up at John, watching from the balconies, who shook his head. Sherlock then decided that he didn't want to stop showing off, so he rattled off all of his deductions about the jury, and was then escorted away by two officers, who shoved him into one cell and Moriarty into another. Sherlock huffed, and rummaged through his pockets for his phone. It was only an hour before he was escorted back to the front desk to be booked out, to find John waiting for him, arms folded.

"Sorry, John"

"I told you, we all told you, don't try and be clever! Don't be a smart arse! And what do you do? Land yourself in a cell for contempt!" John said, waving his arms around for emphasis as they left.

"I said I'm sorry, John, what more do you want?"

"I don't know, maybe that the guy I have to guard isn't a complete and utter twat!"

"I am not a twat"

"Oh yes you bloody well are. I don't know why I put up with you" John muttered, shaking his head. Sherlock smirked as they climbed into a taxi.

"You put up with me because I'm a great person to be around, and also you get paid to stick with me"

"I don't actually get paid, but if I quit now Mycroft will kill me"

"There you go. You like being around me"

* * *

The jury concluded Moriarty as not guilty, and he was let free, much to Sherlock's annoyance. He complained about it daily, and complained that someone in the media industry was printing lies about him. John had managed to track down the person writing the articles, and Sherlock was insisting on going to see her.

"I want to know where the hell she got all this information about me from" he muttered.

"Sherlock, a majority of its fake anyway, I don't know why you're making such a fuss" John replied.

"Because this is him, John! This is Moriarty doing this! Trying to ruin me! I don't care if it's fake, people believe it and therefore I am loosing cases and I am so bored!" Sherlock shouted.

"Calm down" John muttered.

"Don't tell me to calm down!"

"I can, and I will, Sherlock! Listen to me!"

"No! That's it, I'm going and seeing her now!"

"Sherlock, it's four in the morning, you are not going anywhere!"

"Don't tell me what to do!"

"I'll do what I like, Sherlock! Right now you're being an annoying bastard"

"Oh hell no I ain't!"

"Sherlock Holmes, I don't bloody care if you're an immortal two hearted alien from another planet you will listen to me and you will sit down and calm down" John shouted back, and Sherlock stopped, surprised, and flopped in his chair, drumming his fingers on the arms.

"You can't tell me what to do, John" he said quietly.

"Sherlock. You may not remember it, but I sat with you for two months in rehab after you overdosed on drugs. You are my best friend, and I don't care what you say, if I tell you to do something, you should take my advice and listen to me, because otherwise you're going to get into even more trouble than you're in now" John replied in an equally quiet voice. There was a pause as the Time Lord ran this through his incredible mind.

"... I'm sorry, John, I didn't mean to shout at you. I... I'm just stressed with this whole thing with Moriarty, and he's out there... and I'm a bit scared"

"Sherlock, it's going to be fine" John assured him.

"Hmm no John, I don't think it will be. I get the feeling I'm going to die"

"I'll be with you, if it happens. And I'll kill Moriarty myself" John said, and Sherlock laughed.

"Thank you for that, John"

* * *

"Sherlock, what the hell is this all about? Why the bloody hell are you on that roof?" John demanded down the phone.

"John, I need you to stay back. I'm going to die, John"

"Sherlock..." John started towards the hospital again. Sherlock had warned him about this.

"No! You must stay back! I will be fine! Just stay back" Sherlock half shouted down the phone.

"Sherlock, don't you bloody dare jump. You bastard don't you dare..." John trailed off at the sound of Sherlock laughing on the other end of the line.

"Oh, John. I don't know what I'd do without you. But I must do this"

"Why?"

"Moriarty needs me to die. I must die, John"

"I told you, you idiot. I told you he would do this..."

"Moriarty's dead, he just shot himself. I will be fine, John. Keep people away from me when I hit the ground. Can you do that for me?"

"What yes of course... I don't see how that will help..."

"It will help, trust me. I only want you beside me when I land, okay? And you must do as I say"

"Alright, Sherlock, I promise, I'll do what you say"

"Goodbye John" Sherlock said, and the line went dead. John pulled the phone away from his ear and watched the man he was supposed to protect, his best friend the Time Lord fall from the roof, coat flapping in the breeze. He shouted Sherlock's name, and heard the dull thud as his friend struck the concrete. He sprinted towards the figure, and turned him onto his front, staring in shock. Sherlock was still alive, but only just. He smiled up at John faintly.

"John..."

"Shhh, I'll get you in the hospital, it will be fine" John promised, and was about to shout out for help when Sherlock grabbed his arm.

"No... time... step back..." he gasped as his body began to glow. John moved back, staring in shock.

"What the...Sherlock..." he trailed off as Sherlock sighed.

"I'm regenerating, John. I'm cheating death... I might change, I don't know. If I change, I might forget who you are. I don't want that. And since I never had the chance to say it before, John, I love you"

Sherlock's eyes closed, and his body seemed to burst into flames, the light and energy throwing John backwards as the Time Lord regenerated...


	2. The Return

"John? John, can you hear me?" a familiar voice asked anxiously. There was pressure on his fingers, and then the voice speaking to someone else. "I think he was too close... he might have absorbed some of the energy... will it hurt him?"

"No, it won't hurt him. Although you were an idiot for jumping in the first place"

"I had no choice! It was either that, or a sniper shot John in the head!"

"And how do you know that the sniper didn't see you when you hit the ground?"

"The building was in the way. I was careful. The only person who saw was John"

"As long as you're sure. It seems John was blasted back away from you, may have absorbed some of the energy and hit his head... hence the unconsciousness"

"I hope I haven't killed him"

"He'll be fine, I'm sure. He knew it was a hazard of the job"

"Guarding an obnoxious git like me, you mean?"

"Yes, quite. Stay with him. He needs you" there were footsteps walking away, and John felt pressure on his fingers again, followed by the first voice.

"John? If you can hear me, squeeze my hand, move, do something. Wake up and yell at me for being an idiot. Just show me you're alive" the voice wobbled and became a strangled gasp at the end, and John's eyes fluttered open to see the familiar figure of his best friend, hunched over beside him, his head in his hands. John was amazed, as the last time he remembered seeing his friend, he had fallen from the roof and was glowing bright gold.

"You... are an... idiot" John whispered, and Sherlock's head snapped up, and he cried with relief to see John awake.

"Oh, John, thank goodness, I thought I'd killed you, I'm so sorry" he babbled as John pulled himself into an upright position, realising he was in a private hospital room.

"I'm fine... what exactly..." he trailed off, and Sherlock sighed, glancing up to make sure the door was shut.

"Moriarty had a sniper aiming at you, who would shoot if I didn't jump. I realised that I could force Moriarty to recall the sniper, so he shot himself, leaving me with no choice but to jump. I wasn't completely certain my plan would work. Luckily it did"

"Your plan?"

"Yes. I died, John, when I hit the pavement"

"Then who am I talking to? A ghost?" John asked, confused, and Sherlock laughed.

"No, you dimbo. Time Lords have this trick where we can cheat death... when we're dying, or close to death, we do this thing called regeneration. Our bodies sort of heal themselves, and we're as good as new. Depending on the cause of death, we sometimes change our faces. When that happens, we often forget what our previous face saw. That's why I forced myself to keep the same face. I didn't want to lose my memories of you, John"

"So... you're alright now?" John asked, concerned as always for his friend.

"Yep, good as new. Still the same person you knew before. Although I am worried about you. Normally people can't be too close when a Time Lord regenerates, because it can affect them. You got blasted back by the power of it, and I think you hit your head, but by the time I woke up a few minutes later, you were unconscious. You may have taken some of my regenerative energies into you"

"Is that bad?"

"I don't know. I've... that's the first time I've ever regenerated..." Sherlock mumbled, looking at his shoes. John reached out and patted his shoulder.

"Well, you're alright. You're safe"

"Hmm... only eleven more regenerations... then I kick the bucket for good" Sherlock mused, running his fingers through his hair.

"Well, don't think about that now. I don't want you regenerating again in a hurry, okay?"

"Alright. You should get some rest"

"I'm fine" John insisted, although his head was pounding and he was struggling to focus. Sherlock laughed, touched his fingers to his mouth and removed them glowing gold, and touched John's forehead.

"Hush now, John. Go to sleep" He whispered, his regenerative energy taking over and making John's eyes droop.

"Sherl..." he mumbled as he lost consciousness.

"Hush, John, I'll still be here when you wake..."

* * *

"Well, brother mine, you certainly managed to remain unattached. Holding Doctor Watson's hand now, are we?"

"Shut it, Mycroft. John is my friend"

"It's not going to work, Sherlock. You know you can't lie to me"

"Get out"

"Touched a nerve, have I, brother dear?"

"I said, GET OUT" Sherlock shouted, and John flinched.

"Careful, brother. You've woken him up now" Mycroft said, turning and walking away. John opened his eyes with a groan.

"Sherlock?" he murmured.

"Right here, John, as promised. Sorry I woke you. Mycroft was being a pain as usual"

"It's... fine... I was already awake..." John mumbled as the door opened and a young doctor walked in.

"All set, Doctor Watson. Your friend here can take you home now" he said, and Sherlock grinned.

"Come on, John" he said, helping his bodyguard from the bed.

"I can walk, Sherlock" John insisted, and Sherlock dropped his arm.

"Sorry, yes, of course you can. Sorry"

"Good to hear you say you're actually sorry about something"

* * *

"So, John the wizard" Sherlock said, flopping in his chair whilst John collapsed opposite.

"Yes, what?"

"Show me some magic"

"What, why?" John asked, surprised.

"Because I want to see"

"Yeah, but why?"

"I need to clean up my data on you, sort out what's real and what's fake" Sherlock replied smoothly.

"Data? What, like on a computer?"

"My brain is my hard drive, John, I believe I've told you that before"

"Fine. What do you want me to do?" John asked, pulling his wand from his pocket.

"I don't know, some... magic-y stuff" Sherlock said waving his hands about absently.

"Fine" John glanced around, before sending several of Sherlock's possessions flying around the room. Sherlock smiled widely, his hand reaching out to touch one of his many books as it floated past his head.

"Amazing... Never seen anything like it in my two hundred and sixty years"

"Two hundred and sixty one. You're two hundred and sixty one" John said quickly, earning a glare from the Time Lord.

"I was rounding it down to make it easier to say. I didn't forget my extra year spent as a human"

"Wow... and I thought you were just being modest"

Sherlock opened his mouth to reply when there was a loud crash from outside and the windows were blasted apart. Sherlock leapt forward and grabbed John, pushing him to the ground out of harms way.

"John! Are you alright?" He demanded. John coughed.

"I think so... are you alright?"

"Better than ever, John, I'm perfectly fine, I promise" Sherlock replied, jumping up and tip-toeing through the broken glass to peer outside.

"Hmm explosion across the road... need to get closer to determine what really happened" he murmured, turning and heading back towards John and pulling him unceremoniously to his feet.

"Ouch!"

"Sorry, John" Sherlock replied, distracted, pulling the slim pen like device from his pocket and flicking it through the air.

"What is that thing?" John asked as they headed downstairs.

"Sonic screwdriver. Gift from my dear cousin the Doctor about a year before Maulin started chasing me. If I didn't know better I would say that it was Maulin who triggered the explosion, but since that's impossible, let's go and take a look"

He was out the door and across the road in seconds, peering at the exploded building opposite. John hurried up behind him, and he sighed, a small smile spreading across his face.

"I might have known I would find you, my dear" he breathed. John illuminated his wand as they headed further into the darkness towards what sounded like an enormous creature growling. In the corner was stood a wardrobe, and Sherlock reached out and touched it lightly, smiling.

"Hello again, my old friend"

"Sherlock? Why are you talking to an old wardrobe?" John asked, and Sherlock huffed quietly.

"She is not any old wardrobe. She's my TARDIS. It's just a disguise. It's not brilliant, really, but it does the trick"

"I thought Mycroft had your TARDIS in a compound"

"This was a compound. Clever of him to disguise it as the building opposite my home, I suppose. My girl wanted my attention. She caused the explosion, she's clever like that" Sherlock murmured, stroking the case again. "You made a bit of a mess, my girl, but I suppose I did leave you for over a year. I'm sorry"

"What now?" John asked as Sherlock dug through the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a key, inserting it into the lock. He smiled when the door clicked open, and pushed his way inside.

"Come on, plenty of room" he called as he vanished inside. John pushed open the door, and his mouth fell open in wonder. They were in a huge cavernous space, a massive control room, and John stared around in awe, whilst Sherlock bounded eagerly up the steps towards the gleaming glass column in the centre, with a set of controls spread around it. John stepped up beside his friend, looking at all of the controls. He reached out to touch something, and Sherlock smacked his hand down.

"No touching my girl"

"Your girl?"

"Yes, my girl. She's my TARDIS, all mine, and you will be respectful"

"Sorry"

"Good" Sherlock muttered, gently running his hands over the console. The machine hummed loudly at the touch of its master, and he smiled widely at the column. "There, there now, my girl. Sherlock's here, shhh, I have missed you, have you missed me? I bet you have, that's why you decided to blow up a building"

" Are you talking to it... her?"

"Of course I am. She hears and understands every word. Don't call her an 'it' again. That's disrespectful"

"Alright, sorry" John muttered.

"Now, were shall we go? Fancy seeing the stars, John?"

"You don't even know the Earth goes around the sun. How can you know everything about the universe?" John asked.

"Ahh, but that was when I was human I forgot everything, remember?" Sherlock replied, fiddling with the controls. He pulled down on a lever, and the column moved up and down, and John stared in awe whilst Sherlock grinned. He grabbed John's arm and dragged him to the door. He stopped before opening the door.

"Now, you must not step outside these doors, understand? The atmospheric shell will protect us whilst we stay inside" he said, and John nodded as he flung the doors open, grinning at what he saw outside. John stood on tip toe and tried to peer over his shoulder.

"Hey, not everyone's a tall gangly Time Lord" he protested, and Sherlock stepped back, pulling out his sonic screwdriver and flicking it up into the air before catching it easily. It was an old habit he had had for years, since he'd received the screwdriver as a gift. He sighed and pushed it back into his pocket.

"We... we're in space" John whispered, and Sherlock laughed.

"Yep. Told you, my TARDIS is a time and space machine. Just thought that showing you this would put things into perspective for you"

"Wow..." John whispered, and Sherlock smirked, leaning against the doorframe beside his best friend. He glanced at his watch, the watch he had worn since he fled Gallifrey all those years ago, the one that automatically reset itself whenever he landed in a different time.

"Unfortunately, we must return home, because Mycroft will surely have noticed that we have left" he said, leaning across to shut the doors. John looked at him with a sigh.

"But we can come back, right? Go travelling and stuff"

"Of course, John. This was just the beginning" he said, hurrying back to the console and flipping the switches whilst John moved to stand beside him, watching.

"Don't touch anything, John, you don't know what any of it does and if you tamper with my settings I will not be happy" Sherlock warned as he darted around the console.

"And I'll turn you into a bat"

"No you won't. Mycroft once changed the music settings when we were on the run and it took me a whole month to sort it out. I did not want to be listening to bloody Taylor Swift all the time, I have no idea why he liked it so much. Awful drivel, it is" Sherlock muttered. The screen flickered into life, and his head snapped up. "John! I told you NOT to touch anything!" he shouted, whipping around the side of the console.

"I honestly did not touch anything" John said, his hands raised in surrender. Sherlock muttered something in an alien language under his breath that sounded rude, fiddling with the controls and trying to get the screen to switch off again. John watched the screen continue to flicker, and an image slowly began to appear, a familiar face grinning at him.

"Sherlock"

"What is it now, John? I'm trying to sort the bloody screen out!"

"Sherlock, you need to see this" John said, just as the man's image on the screen spoke.

"Did you miss me?"

Sherlock's head snapped up, and he darted around and grabbed the screen.

"Impossible..." he whispered.

"Did you miss me? Did you miss me? Did you miss me?"

Sherlock stood straight and flicked his hair out of his eyes.

"Well, John, looks like we definitely need to get back home" he said, flipping another switch, grinning widely, the man's voice taunting them as they landed back at Baker Street.

"Did you miss me?"


	3. The Search

The control room shook violently, and John lost his balance and fell to the floor whilst Sherlock laughed.

"You never could keep your balance, could you?" he asked, and John huffed. He was about to pick himself back up when he noticed something golden that had fallen from the controls. He crawled across the floor and picked it up to examine it. It was one of those Circular Gallifreyan symbols on a length of black cord. John pulled himself to his feet, and held it up.

"What's this?" he asked. Sherlock peered around the central column, and his eyes widened, and he darted around and snatched it from John.

"Mine"

"Yeah, I gathered that, but what is it?" John asked again as Sherlock held it gently, running his fingers over it.

"It's her name..."

"Who's name?" Even when Sherlock had been human, he had always been a difficult person to get an answer out of, but now he had returned to his life as a Time Lord he was even worse.

"My wife's name" Sherlock whispered with a sigh.

"Your _wife?_ You're _married?_" John asked incredulously.

"Yes, of course I'm married, dimbo!"

"I never thought I'd hear you say that"

"Shut up! I don't even know if my wife's alive, John" Sherlock murmured. He sighed, looping the cord around his neck and tucking the gold symbol down the front of his shirt.

"When Time Lords get married, instead of exchanging rings or whatever it is you humans do, we exchange symbols. I carry the symbol of her name, and she carries the symbol of my name. Well, she did. She's probably dead, killed in the Time War. Still, I have hope. A few of us Time Lords did make it out alive"

"She could be still out there, then" John said quietly, and Sherlock nodded, touching the symbol again.

"I always have hope that I will find her again"

"Are we going back to London?" John asked, snapping Sherlock out of his daze.

"Yes, of course, one sec" he flipped a switch, and they landed with a slight lurch. He bounded past John and opened the doors, smiling with satisfaction.

"We're back home" he said, striding into the living room of their flat at Baker Street, with John following, shaking his head in amazement. Sherlock patted the side of the wardrobe, and clicked his fingers. The doors shut and the cupboard vanished with a faint whir.

"There. I just sent her a couple of seconds ahead of us. I can get her back if we need her again"

"Good to know" John said, staring at the spot the cupboard had vanished from. Sherlock grabbed his arm, and they took a taxi to Mycroft's office, and were shown in immediately upon their arrival.

"Good to see you've returned to us, brother mine, considering this recent... development. It seems that Jim Moriarty is not dead"

"Yeah, yeah, we know. He managed to broadcast that message into my TARDIS"

"Hmm. Beyond that, we don't know how he did it"

"By 'it' I'm assuming you are referring to how he shot himself and lived and how he broadcast the same message across every screen in the country and my TARDIS?" Sherlock inquired sarcastically, examining his nails.

"Of course that's what I'm referring to!" Mycroft muttered. "Any ideas?"

"Nope, not a single one. I will of course be interested to find out..."

"John Watson, your duties in guarding my brother have increased"

"They were already twenty four seven" John muttered.

"Slightest thing against him I want it dealt with immediately" Mycroft insisted, and John huffed, nodding.

"Fine"

"Go and look for leads" Mycroft waved his hand, and Sherlock stood with a snort.

"Yeah, whatever. I'll be in touch when I've found him"

"Do you really have no idea how he survived?" John asked when they arrived back in the flat. Sherlock sighed.

"Twenty nine logical theories, plus at least five illogical theories"

"Great. Why didn't you tell Mycroft?"

"He'd poke his nose in. That's the last thing I want" Sherlock muttered, flopping in his chair and picking up a newspaper and disappearing behind it.

"So. What's the plan now?" John asked the newspaper, sitting down opposite. The newspaper rustled slightly as Sherlock lowered it to peer over the top at John.

"Plan? What plan?"

"You don't have a plan? What are you going to do?" John asked, confused. "You always have a plan"

"Oh, a plan to do with this Moriarty thing? Sure, I've got a plan"

"Which is?"

"We do nothing, and wait for him to make the first move. He'll probably be in touch soon" Sherlock said quietly before disappearing behind the newspaper again.

The next morning, Sherlock was tapping his sonic screwdriver against his phone, pressing several buttons and causing the tip to glow. John sat down and watched him, afraid to ask what the Time Lord was doing.

"I'm boosting my phone so I can send and receive calls and messages across time and space" Sherlock said without looking up. Behind him on the desk his laptop flickered to life, and he looked around.

"Did you switch that on when you came in?" he asked John, who shook his head. They both stared as the laptop screen flickered and an image appeared. Sherlock swore loudly.

"Now, now, Mr Holmes, no need for language like that. I have something of yours"

"What?"

"This" Moriarty grinned, and held up a golden symbol, similar to the one Sherlock wore around his neck. He cursed loudly, and grabbed the laptop, shaking it as though he could shake Moriarty as well.

"What have you done to her?" he bellowed. "I swear if you've hurt her I will rip you to pieces!"

"Temper, temper! I haven't harmed her... yet... she's still here, waiting for you... come and find her. Two weeks. I'll look after her for you. If you don't come within two weeks, I will kill her. And by that I mean properly kill her, not just regenerate kill her. I'll kill her in her regeneration cycle, won't that be fun?"

"Where are you?" Sherlock demanded.

"Oh Sherlock. If I told you that it would ruin the fun, wouldn't it?"

"A hint, then?" Sherlock pleaded.

"Oh, alright, for you, one hint. Powers" Moriarty smirked, and the image vanished, the screen turning dark. Sherlock dropped the laptop and ran his fingers through his curly hair irritated.

"She's alive, then?" John asked quietly. Sherlock smiled.

"Yes, she is. I have to find her before..."

"I know, Sherlock, I know. And we will find her in time"

"Powers, though. Any ideas?" Sherlock asked.

"Nope. I don't think it's a place" John replied. Sherlock frowned, and muttered the word 'powers' over and over in several different languages under his breath, trying to figure out the one clue he had been given about his wife's location whilst John started flicking through map books. After five hours, he threw the books down with a sigh, leaning back against the cushions.

"That's it, I've been through every world map book there is, and there is nowhere on this planet called Powers. Could it be another planet?"

"Not likely. He'd need some form of transport to do that" Sherlock muttered.

"Right. I'm going to bed"

"Goodnight"

"You going to sleep?"

"No. I need to think. Goodnight" Sherlock said, closing his eyes and drifting into his mind palace whilst John went up to bed.

The next morning, Sherlock shook John awake.

"John! Wake up!" he hissed, and John sat up groggily.

"What is it Sherlock? It's five in the morning..." he yawned.

"Quit yawning! This was just shoved under the door!" Sherlock said, handing John a plain postcard with a message scrawled on it.

_Sorry, boys! I'm so changeable! To be fair, it is my only weakness..._

_I've changed my mind. You've had one day. You have two more days, or she dies_

"We have to find her, John! No more wasting time by sleeping!" Sherlock shouted, yanking back the covers and pulling John to his feet.

"Ok, ok, give me five minutes" John mumbled. Sherlock huffed, and looked at his watch before snatching the card and storming from the room.

"Five minutes, not a minute longer!" he called back.

However, as the day wore on, Sherlock's attempts to discover where Moriarty was became more and more desperate. He threw his laptop at the wall in frustration.

"She's going to die thinking I don't care..."

"She's not going to die, Sherlock, we can figure this out" John tried to assure him.

"But..."

"No. No buts. We will find her"

"I'm scared... what if we don't?"

"No 'what ifs' either. She will be fine" John huffed, opening his blog.

"Wait a minute..." Sherlock said, snatching John's laptop.

"Hey, give it back" John protested.

"Our cases, all the cases we solved... the 'Great Game' as he called it... remember?"

"That one where I nearly died?" John asked.

"Of course that would be the bit you remember" Sherlock huffed, clicking through the blog posts. "There! We were wrong, John, the whole time"

"We were? About what?"

"The clue, powers. He meant Powers. As in the name. As in Carl Powers"

"Carl Powers? Isn't that the kid who drowned?"

"Yes! Exactly!"

"I don't get it" John said.

"Use your noggin, John! Where did Carl die?"

"The... swimming pool?"

"Exactly! That's where he is, he must be" Sherlock muttered, grabbing John's collar and dragging him from the flat.

Sherlock burst into the swimming pool, followed by John, who had drawn his wand ready to fight.

"Moriarty?" Sherlock called.

"What if you're wrong?" John asked gently, stepping back, knowing that Sherlock would snap at him.

"She's here. I can feel it" Sherlock whispered, drawing the symbol out from under his shirt and showing John that it was glowing, before shoving it back down his shirt.

"Moriarty I know you're here" he called out again, his eyes darting around the room. There was a low chuckle, and Moriarty stepped out of the side door, smirking.

"Well, well. You arrived on time. Congratulations"

"Quit it. How the hell did you survive and what have you done with my wife?" Sherlock demanded.

"Your wife? Oh, she's here. One second" he disappeared back where he had came from and emerged a minute later dragging a young woman, her hands tied behind her back and a gag around her mouth. Moriarty pulled her wedding symbol from his pocket and slid it around her neck.

"There. Now run along"he said, kicking her in the back and sending her sprawling to the ground at Sherlock's feet. He crouched down and took her shoulders, lifting her up and looking her in the eye.

"Hello my dear" he whispered. She made a whimpering noise behind the gag, and her eyes lit up. They stood slowly, and Sherlock ushered her towards John.

"Keep her safe, John" he said under his breath. John nodded, and tapped his wand against the chains, snapping them easily. He then pulled the gag from her mouth whilst Sherlock stepped towards Moriarty again.

"Now. How did you do it?"

"Oh Sherlock. I thought you would leave me alone now you got your precious wife back. Do you really want me to tell you how I did it?"

"Yes. Tell me"

"You know, I don't think I will" Moriarty said, pushing his hands into his pockets. Sherlock grabbed his jacket lapels and shook him.

"You will tell me how you did it, and you will tell me NOW!" he bellowed.

"Alright, alright, no need to get your knickers in a twist, Time boy" Moriarty said, pushing Sherlock away and smoothing down his jacket.

"You want to know how I survived? I had help, of course I did. From a Time Lord..."

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Thanks for sticking with this :) It's the first fanfic that's multiple chapters that I've written... and the first that I've published online...**

**Comment/review any feedback!**

**I shall return with the next chapter soon...**


	4. The Reunion

"Well, not specifically a Time Lord. A Time Lady" Moriarty laughed.

"Who?" Sherlock demanded.

"Not saying. I'll let you figure it out on your own... I must be going now, good day" Moriarty vanished back the way he had come. Sherlock watched him go before turning around and opening his arms with a smile.

"Come here beautiful" he said quietly, and his wife ran and hugged him. He buried his face in her hair and sighed, running his hands up and down her back gently whilst she cried into his shoulder.

"Hey now, it's alright, shhh, it's ok" he murmured. He broke apart from her but kept his arm around her shoulders, turning to John, who was smiling slightly.

"This is my wife, Laura. Laura, my dear, this is my bodyguard, John Watson. He's a wizard"

"Hi John. Nice to meet you. Thank you for keeping my Sherlock out of trouble"

"My pleasure" John replied with a smile.

"Although... not entirely out of trouble, it seems. You've regenerated, sweetheart, but kept the same face..." Laura said, touching Sherlock's cheek lightly, her blue eyes wide.

"Yes, I did. Sorry"

"No, no, it's fine. I'm still in my first life"

"Then we shall have many more together" Sherlock said as all three of them left the swimming pool. He still had his arm around his wife, and John shook his head.

"I never thought I'd see you with a girl, Sherlock" he muttered, and his friend snorted.

"She is not any girl; she is my wife, who I love with both of my hearts. I merely felt no real affection towards any humans. Apart from you, I suppose, John" Sherlock replied.

"Thanks, I think"

"Just for the record, I love you too, Sherlock"Laura said quietly.

"Thank you my dear"

* * *

"Laura, you were Moriarty's prisoner. Do you know who it was who helped him survive?" Sherlock asked, flopping in his chair whilst Laura perched on the arm of the chair.

"I'm afraid not. He kept my blindfolded for most of it. I did hear him talking to someone, though. Sounded like a woman, confirming what he said about a Time Lady... I don't know who, though. I didn't recognize the voice"

"Hmm. Seems that there is another one of us out there... and the Doctor thought he was the only one who survived..." Sherlock mused.

"I'm sorry I'm not much more help. There are five of us, though, I know that much. The Doctor, us, Mycroft and this mysterious Time Lady, Moriarty's friend" Laura said quietly.

"Nice to know that there are still some of us out there"

"So. What's the plan now then?" John asked.

* * *

"You realise this is completely insane" John hissed.

"You've only told me one hundred and twenty six times" Sherlock whispered.

"Make that one hundred and twenty seven. This is completely insane, Sherlock. Why did we have to arrange to meet Moriarty on the freezing cold roof of a building just so you could "have a nice chat" with him about how he shot himself in the head and lived?"

"John, if you don't stop moaning, I'm going to push you off the roof" Sherlock warned. Laura touched his arm gently.

"Ignore him, John, he gets rude when he's nervous" she said quietly, and her husband huffed, his breath forming a white cloud of vapour that dissipated quickly.

"I am not rude, and I am not nervous"

"Could've fooled me" John muttered.

"Are you even sure that Moriarty will show up?"

"...No"

"If he doesn't show up, do I get to punch you?"

"No punching" Laura warned.

"Do I get to punch you, Sherlock?" A familiar voice taunted, and all three of them spun round in surprise to see Moriarty stood a short distance away, hands in his pockets, smirking. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, actually. How did you survive?"

"Straight to the point. Nice. And I'm not telling you"

"Go on, you know you want to" Sherlock said.

"No, I don't"

"Please? Pretty please?"

"No chance, Holmes"

"Alright. I didn't want to have to do this. John, the curse" Sherlock said, looking at John, who stared back at him before drawing out his wand and pointing it at Moriarty. He had no idea what Sherlock was on about, but he figured that he should play along, although he had no idea why. He made a mental note to tell Sherlock that next time he deserved to know the entire plan.

"Getting your pet wizard to threaten me won't make me tell you, Sherlock. You have your secrets, I have mine" Moriarty said, amused and unfazed by the threat.

"There is a curse I can use that will put you completely under my power, and I could make you do anything I wanted"

"Oh, I've heard of that! The... Imperius curse, yes? Boring. If that's all you wanted, I should be going. Don't waste my time again, Holmes. Next time, I won't be as forgiving" Moriarty turned and started walking away.

"Fine! Don't tell me how you did it then! Tell me something else!" Sherlock called, and Moriarty paused, half turning back towards the trio.

"And what would that be?"

"The identity of the Time Lady. Your friend, the one who helped you. What's her name?"

"Why do you care?"

"I want the name, that's all"

"She's my girlfriend, actually, leave her alone"

"The name! Give me the bloody name!" Sherlock shouted.

"Fine, I'll tell you her name"Moriarty paused again, smirking.

"Well?"

"You're so impatient, aren't you? I was just trying to draw out the suspense, irritate you a bit more..."

"It's working. Now quit mucking me about and tell me the name" Sherlock hissed, his hands curling into fists at his sides.

"Her name is Rebecca, although she prefers the name Becky"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

_Hi guys! Thanks for reading and following etc, it means a lot to me!_

_This was originally written for my friend, hence the sort of cliffhanger at the end of this chapter..._

_The name was changed before I posted this though_

_Like, comment, review, whatever, I don't mind :)_


	5. The Revelation

6 months earlier "Do you think you could survive for just a few minutes, WITHOUT SHOWING OFF?" Becky saw the man stood giving his argument look up at the galleries, and out of the corner of her eye saw a young man shake his head, before the 'show off' then rattled off a load of facts he had 'observed' about the jury whilst the man in the gallery put his head in his hands. Becky then returned her gaze to the man on trial, James Moriarty. He was stood smartly in his suit, his hands behind his back, listening and smirking as the other man was arrested for contempt. James, or as he seemed to prefer, Jim, was also taken away again, awaiting the jury decision on his sentence. Becky had been watching Jim for awhile now, watched him tease and play with the dark curly haired man he called his enemy. Unbeknownst to him, Becky had threatened each of the jury members, and was now waiting for their decision. The man who seemed to follow the curly haired man that someone had called 'Sherlock Holmes' stood and left, presumably to go and bail out his friend. He returned, minus Sherlock Holmes, in time to hear the jury's decision. "Your honour, we find James Moriarty not guilty" The judge was surprised by this, having recommended a sentence of guilty himself. "Not guilty" he mumbled, and the court trial ended with Jim walking out of the building free. Becky hurried to catch up with him, and caught him around the corner. He smiled when he spotted her, and opened his arms. "Thank you, dear, for what you did. I know you threatened them, and this is all perfect. I'm free, and I can now bring down Sherlock Holmes once and for all" he said quietly, hugging her. "Be careful, Jim. He's changed" "No he hasn't. Still the same obnoxious bastard he's always been" "I mean it. He's like me, Jim. Don't under estimate him" "That is the last thing I would ever want to do. Now, I must go and talk to him. Stay safe, my dear" Becky watched Jim enter Sherlock's flat, before hurrying to her TARDIS, hidden around the corner. She had positioned herself there, having detected another TARDIS was nearby, and therefore another Time Lord. She had been clueless, however, as to the identity of this missing Time Lord, until the trial today, where she had felt the presence of a Time Lord who had recently been concealed as human. Sherlock Holmes was the missing Time Lord. His TARDIS was nearby, but he had not used it. No wonder he had been so clever and observant, even as a human. There was something about his friend as well, the short man who followed him everywhere, his eyes constantly alert and on the lookout for danger. The papers had named him as John Watson, and it was clear that he would jump in the way of a bullet to save Sherlock Holmes. Becky got the feeling, however, that John was also not as he seemed, although he was indeed human, she suspected he possessed some kind of power that enabled him to protect his friend. St Bart's hospital roof –JM Becky frowned at the message. Jim never usually sent her messages like this, so she decided it must be important. A quick fiddle with the controls and she landed on the hospital roof, observing on the screen the outside world. She could see Jim sat on the edge of the roof, his phone in his hand, listening to some song that sounded like 'Staying Alive'. She was still confused as to why he had asked her to come, when the door to the roof opened and Sherlock Holmes stepped out. Jim looked up and switched off the music, standing and circling Sherlock, who stood with his hands behind his back, staring impassively, when Jim said something and he darted forward, grabbing Jim and holding him over the edge of the roof by just his jacket, shouting something Becky couldn't hear. Jim said something else, and Sherlock pulled him back before stepping onto the roof ledge. He's going to jump The thought ran through Becky's head before she reminded herself that she didn't care. Why would she care? He was a Time Lord. He would fall, and he would regenerate and he would be as good as new. What did it matter if he died? Sherlock suddenly laughed and jumped down from the ledge, stepping back towards Jim, saying something. Becky started fiddling with the controls, trying to hear what was being said. Jim nodded sadly, held out his hand, which Sherlock shook, surprised. Jim then inserted a gun into his mouth, and Becky didn't need the TARDIS sound system to hear the gunshot that fired through the back of his head. Sherlock stared in shock at Jim's body, before stepping back onto the ledge and calling someone on his phone. He was talking to someone, no doubt his protector John, but Becky still wanted to hear what was being said. She flipped a switch, and finally she could hear what was going on in the outside world. "Goodbye John" Sherlock said, putting his phone away. He leaned back slightly, spread his arms, and leaned forward, vanishing from sight. Becky slammed her way outside, and peered over the edge of the roof to see John crouched beside the body, which had begun to glow. The protector was thrown backwards as the Time Lord regenerated, and Becky turned to look back at Jim's body sadly. He was unmistakably dead, and the thought that she had lost him hurt a lot. She started dragging his heavy body into the TARDIS, and examined the fatal wound in his head. The bullet had shot straight out of the back of his head, leaving a clean hole. Becky touched the wound, and her fingers began to glow, healing and sealing the injury. Jim's eyes fluttered, and he breathed in, his gaze locked on Becky. "Becky..." "Hush, Jim. Everything is going to be alright" she whispered, her regenerative energies bringing Jim Moriarty back from the dead. "Becky! We have a guest" Jim called, opening the TARDIS doors and shoving a young woman inside. "Who the hell are you and what do you want with me?" she snarled at him as Becky appeared in the room and Jim smirked, pulling off the gold symbol the woman wore around her neck. "Give it back" "No. Now shut up. Becky, can you translate this?" he asked, holding the necklace out to his girlfriend, who took it carefully. "Of course. It's a Gallifreyan wedding symbol" "Wait a minute, Becky?" the woman asked, and Jim smacked her across the face, sending her sprawling to the ground. "I said be quiet. Who's her husband then? Have I caught the right one?" Jim asked. "I would say so. You've caught the wife of Sherlock Holmes" Becky replied, handing the charm back to him. He grinned and turned back to the woman, crouching down to where she was still on the floor. "What's your name, Time Lady?" he asked quietly. "Why are you asking me? Becky knows me" she replied, and he looked up at his girlfriend, who nodded. "I do know her. She's called Laura" "Some friend you are, Becky. Traitor" Laura hissed, and Jim smacked her again before tying a gag around her mouth. "That's it, no more talking for you. I think I need to send a message to Sherlock Holmes and tell him I've found his property..." "Moriarty!" Sherlock shouted. Laura, still bound, gagged and blindfolded, whimpered at the sound of her lost husband's voice. She had been searching for him ever since she had received a message from him saying he was going to Earth to hide from Maulin, who wanted to kill him. He had apologized, told her he loved her and the message had ended. Becky touched Jim's arm. "Are you sure you want to give her back? She could be useful" "She's your friend, isn't she? Don't you want to see the happy reunion between your friend and her long lost idiot of a husband?" "Well, I guess so. Aren't you afraid she'll blab and tell him how I saved you?" "No. Because she doesn't know" "She isn't stupid, Jim. How do you think she attracted the attention of Sherlock Holmes? She's intelligent" "Alright, alright. You listening?" Jim's voice asked beside Laura's ear, and she whimpered and nodded slightly. "You won't tell him how I did it. Leave him guessing. And you will not mention Becky's involvement, understood?" he said quietly, and Laura nodded again. Jim stepped out to speak to Sherlock, and Becky removed the blindfold. Her friend glared at her accusingly. "It's for your own good, Laura" she said quietly as Jim reappeared and hauled Laura to her feet, dragging her out and throwing her to the ground in front of Sherlock. Becky watched as Sherlock crouched down and helped her up, smiling slightly. He then ushered her towards John, who tapped a slim wooden stick against the chains binding her wrists, causing them to snap immediately. He then removed the gag, and Becky's eyes narrowed. So John Watson was a wizard, then, was he? She had been right in assuming that he wasn't just an ordinary human, and she wondered where Sherlock had met him, as Jim moved back towards her, and they left the pool together. Jim slid his arm around Becky's shoulders, smiling. "So, Jim, what's the plan now?" she asked quietly, and he smirked. "You'll like it. I am going to destroy them" "Destroy who?" Becky asked, slightly confused, and Jim laughed loudly. "First, I'll deal with that pathetic wizard Watson. Then, I'll deal with that girl, Laura. And then..." he paused, his smile widening even more. "I am going to destroy Sherlock Holmes once and for all" 


	6. The Capture

Becky was becoming seriously concerned with Jim.

He was constantly running around and setting traps to capture John Watson, which was a near impossible thing to do due to the training he had received to become a dark wizard catcher. He always anticipated everything it seemed.

Jim's latest attempt to capture the wizard had been the worst. He had planned on sending out fake distress sparks, similar to the ones wizards would send when they were in trouble. John had fallen for it, and hurried to where he had seen the sparks, and Jim had leaped out to tackle him to the ground, only to find the wizard was laughing, and within a second had frozen Jim with a full body bind curse. He crouched down beside the immobile man, smirking.

"You really need to try harder if you want to catch me" he had said before removing the spell and sauntering away.

* * *

"Jim, please, just let it go, you aren't going to catch John" Becky said as Jim paced the room angrily.

"Shut up! I have to deal with him. He's always there, constantly following Sherlock and his wife"

"He's paid to keep them safe, he isn't going to leave them. Let it go" Becky reminded him.

"If you think you know so much, go and deal with him yourself" Jim muttered. Becky switched tact.

"What did Sherlock Holmes ever do to you? He's not even human"

"He's always there getting in the way when I'm trying to do things. I want him dead. And I know he's not human. He's a freaky Time Lord. The whole lot of them think they're so bloody perfect" Jim muttered, and Becky flinched.

"Just to remind you, I am one of them" Becky said quietly, and Jim turned and hugged her gently.

"I'm sorry, I forgot. You aren't freaky. You're special, and I love you"

"Love you too Jim. Maybe you should give up on this whole 'kill Sherlock' thing though"

"Why?"

"Because Gallifrey burned, and there are five of us left. If you kill Sherlock and Laura, there will be three, and they are the only hope we have at re-establishing the Gallifreyan race"

"Why are they your last hope? There are still three others"

"They were the only ones lucky enough to escape death as a married couple. They have the ability to have children"

"Whatever. I'll just kill Sherlock then"

"Once you kill him, Laura will be incapable of doing much other than hunting you down. Don't under estimate her"

"Why would I underestimate her?"

"I'm just saying that if you kill Sherlock or harm him she will tear you apart. That's how strong a Gallifreyan marriage bond is"

* * *

"Sherlock Holmes you get your sorry backside in here now!" Laura shouted, and a moment later Sherlock slunk into the kitchen, looking at his feet and fighting to keep the smirk off of his face.

"Look at me"

Sherlock looked up, finally loosing and smiling widely. He had missed his wife, who pointed at the table.

"Tidy this up, I told you not to leave experiments on the table" she said, and he smirked again, and started tidying whilst she watched and shook her head. "You haven't changed, have you? Even though you spent a year as a human"

"I regenerated"

"You know what I mean. You've still got the same face"

"Laura. I don't think I ever told you just how much I love you" Sherlock said, putting his microscope back in its box and turning towards her and pulling her into his arms.

"I love you too, Sherlock, you know that you mean the world to me"

"I hate to interrupt, but we have a client" John's voice said from the doorway. Sherlock looked up, and his eyes brightened.

"Ok, coming" he replied, taking Laura's hand and dragging her back to the front room. The moment Laura saw Becky, she ducked behind Sherlock, who sat down with her perched on the arm of his chair, clutching his hand. She wasn't sure what to think of her friend at the moment.

"So. Who are you?" Sherlock asked, his eyes narrowed.

"Becky"

"Ah. So Moriarty sent you, did he?" Sherlock asked, glancing at his wife and running his thumb across the back of her hand soothingly.

"No, he didn't send me. I came of my own accord. I'm... worried about him"

"Worried about him? And what do you expect me to do about it?"

"I don't know, but... I thought I should warn you, he's trying to kill all three of you"

"And why would you warn us? It seems that this situation is your fault. You were the one who helped him fake his death" Sherlock said with a sigh.

"I didn't help him fake it. He died, he actually did die. I... brought him back to life, so I suppose it is my fault. But I thought that maybe if I told you, then it wouldn't be so bad?"

"Potentially. Still, you aided a criminal. And I have reason to believe that you were behind my wife's kidnapping as well?" Sherlock asked in a 'dangerous quiet' voice.

"I did not kidnap Laura. Jim did that. I was just..."

"The one that tried to stop him from letting me go" Laura interrupted. Sherlock's eyes narrowed, and he leaned forward.

"Then I see no reason to aid you. Now run along to your _boyfriend" _he sneered. Laura touched his shoulder lightly.

"Sherlock, I have forgiven her for what she did. Please don't be mean"

"Fine. What do you want me to do, then, Becky? Hmm?"

"Be careful"

"Is that it? It might help if you stopped concealing information from us and told us the truth, you know" Sherlock smirked, resting his hands under his chin.

"... Alright. I'm not going to ask how you knew. I should have known, really. I mean, you're famous on Earth, but you were even more famous on Gallifrey"

"Yes, yes, skipping to the point" Sherlock waved his hand in the air irritably.

"I was sent by the Shadow Proclamation to bring Jim in alive"

"And why would that be?" Sherlock asked, his eyes alight with curiosity and interest.

"He's a criminal. He isn't an ordinary human. He's a genetically engineered mastermind, meant to guide people to winning wars, but he's out of control. They thought I might be able to get through to him"

"But alive? You have to bring him in alive? Those were the exact words of your instructions?"

"Yes. They don't want to waste all of their hard work on him. They want to bring him in and get him to fulfil his purpose"

"I see. That explains why you brought him back to life. That doesn't explain what you expect us to do to help"

"I don't know, but I had to tell someone, and you were the only ones I could think of that would understand"

* * *

"Where were you earlier?" Jim asked when Becky walked in. She flinched.

"I just went for a walk, why?"

"Just wondered. I think I've finally worked out how to capture that infernal wizard"

"Oh yeah? How?"

"I'm not telling you"

"Why not? You usually tell me everything" Becky said, confused. Jim crossed the room and grabbed her wrist.

"Because now I know you're a traitor. I followed you earlier. I saw you. You went and spoke to him, didn't you?" Jim hissed.

"I..." Becky looked away, panicked.

"I thought I could trust you" Jim pushed her away.

"You can trust me, Jim!"

"You told him how I survived, didn't you?"

"No! He already knew"

"His good for nothing wife told him, I bet"

"She didn't have to. He already knew. He isn't stupid, Jim, he was bound to figure out eventually"

"And? Is he coming for me then?"

"Not that I'm aware of"

"Good. I can't stay mad at you, Becky, I love you too much" he reached out and hugged her, and she laughed.

"Love you too"

* * *

A week later and Jim was finally captured by the Shadow Proclamation. They arrived outside Becky's TARDIS, and he held out his hands to be cuffed. He had known it was coming, and put up no fight, and was thrown into a barred cell. Outside the bars, a group of people stopped to look at him.

"Let me through" a quiet voice said, and the group parted to allow Sherlock through. He stood in front of the bars and peered in at Jim, and his mouth twisted into a smirk.

"I never thought I'd live to see the day Jim Moriarty was behind bars" he said quietly, pushing his hands into his pockets. Moriarty grabbed the bars separating them, glaring up at the Time Lord.

"Please get me out" he said quietly.

"You shouldn't have escaped in the first place"

"Please, Sherlock, they're going to experiment on me..." Jim pleaded.

"Oh, I'm afraid that the experimentation has already begun. I'm not really here, you're just hallucinating..." Sherlock laughed and vanished, and Jim's world went dark.

* * *

**Author's note:  
**

_I don't quite know what happened to my brain when I was writing the rest of this... it went all weird so apologies if it's not as good as you hoped  
_

_Please do review though, I love reviews!_


	7. The Imprisonment

"Well, it's done" Becky sighed when she arrived at Sherlock's flat.

"What's done?" Sherlock asked, looking up from his latest violin composition.

"Jim's been taken in by the Shadow Proclamation" Becky replied. Sherlock snorted and made a note on his composition before propping his violin to his shoulder again.

"Nice to know"

"They're experimenting on him, trying to figure out what those people did to his brain to make him so... so..."

"Annoying?" Sherlock suggested.

"I was going to say different, actually. Is Laura here?" Becky asked, looking around. Sherlock's bow slipped on the violin, and the beautiful flow of notes became a screech as he put the violin down and turned to face Becky.

"And what does it matter to you if she is?" he asked.

"I want to talk to her"

"Laura! Becky wants you!" Sherlock called, and Laura emerged from the kitchen.

"I know, I heard" she said quietly.

"Um... alone, if possible?" Becky asked, glancing back at Sherlock as Laura crossed the room to stand beside him.

"No. Anything you can say to me can be said in front of Sherlock" she said, and he smiled, sliding his arm around her shoulders.

"Fine. I was going to apologize for what happened before"

"... I forgive you" Laura mumbled, and Sherlock squeezed her shoulder.

"I wonder what they're doing to Moriarty..."

"Fear and stimulus! Inject him now!" a voice called, and a needle was stabbed into Jim's neck, and the world went dark, with nothing but Jim's loud breathing increasing as he awaited the latest horror to leap out at him. The lights clicked on, and he was alone in a cell. The door opened, and a familiar figure walked in. Jim swallowed his shock and tried to focus.

"Is that a British Army L9A1 in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?" he asked, his voice trembling. The Time Lord smirked and drew the gun.

"Both" he said quietly, pressing the barrel of the gun to Jim's head and forcing him to his knees.

"Why are you doing this?" Jim sobbed, raising his hands above his head and staring in fear at the Time Lord.

"You took my wife"

"I... I didn't mean to!" Jim whimpered as the bullet clicked into the chamber.

"Scared of dying, James?" Sherlock sneered, pressing the barrel of the gun into the side of his skull.

"No" Jim muttered, his hands shaking, and Sherlock crouched down beside him.

"Liar" he snarled into Jim's ear.

"P-please Sh-sh-Sherlock don't k-kill m-m-me" Jim curled up into a ball and hugged his knees, sobbing. The Time Lord's laughter faded, and Jim opened his eyes to find he was strapped to a bed.

"Interesting. He fears the Time Lord Sherlock Holmes" a voice said, and a face appeared above him.

"Maybe we should bring in the real thing... and his friends, just to see how he reacts... he seems to have emotions, which makes a change from before"

"What are you talking about? Of course I have emotions I'm human!" Jim cried out.

"No, Mr Moriarty, you are not" the person looming over him said, and stabbed him with a sedative, sending him to sleep in an instant.

The chess game had been going on for hours, it seemed to Laura. It had started with John claiming he had never played 'Muggle' chess, and Sherlock scoffing that he would flatten him in an instant. They had then sat down and were currently both staring at the board, waiting for John to decide his next move, when the doorbell rang. Laura looked around.

"Mrs Hudson will answer it" Sherlock said without looking up from the chess board. A moment later and Mrs Hudson opened the door.

"Sherlock, these men are here for you" she said. Sherlock huffed and stood, turning towards the new arrivals, smoothing his jacket as he did so.

"Oh. Am I in trouble?" he asked, raising an eyebrow when he saw who was there.

"No, Mr Holmes. However, you, your wife and Mr Watson will come with us now"

"What for?" Sherlock asked, taking Laura's hand carefully.

"We need you to talk to James Moriarty"

"Oh. Right. Okay" Sherlock huffed quietly, and one of the Shadow Proclamation stepped forward and cuffed his hands.

"Woah, if he's not being arrested, why are you cuffing him?" John demanded, stepping forward.

"Standard procedure, John, I'm the one that's the biggest threat here" Sherlock said in a bored voice as the cuffs were snapped into place.

"But... but..."

"You aren't being cuffed, either of you, because you are not a threat. Now if you'll shut up then we can get this over with" Sherlock said, and they followed the Proclamation representatives down to a sleek black car. Sherlock leaned back in his seat and flexed his hands against the cuffs, and glanced at Laura, who smiled and patted his knee.

"Quit it, you two" John huffed.

"What?" Sherlock asked, confused.

"The way you look at each other..."

"We're in love, John" Sherlock said patiently.

"I can see that"

Sherlock opened his mouth to reply when the car pulled to a stop and the door was opened.

"Come along" the Proclamation representatives said, leading Sherlock in with John and Laura following. They were ushered into a lab, and through the one way glass could see a plain white walled room with a familiar figure strapped to the bed.

"What do you want me to do?" Sherlock asked.

"Talk to him. We gave him a fear and stimulus drug, and monitored his responses. He hallucinated you"

"Me? Really?" Sherlock seemed surprised, but sighed, and held out his arms.

"Get these off first then" he said, and the cuffs were removed, and he smoothed his jacket, before touching Laura's cheek.

"It's ok, you can trust them" he said quietly as the straps holding Moriarty down were removed. He watched for a moment, before opening the door and striding purposefully into the room. Jim locked eyes with him and screamed, scrambling across the floor into the corner.

"No, no, no stay away from me!" he screamed. Sherlock ignored him and crouched down.

"Hello Jim"

"This isn't real get away from me"

"No, Jim, this is real. I'm really here" Sherlock said quietly. "I can help you"

"Why should I trust you?" Jim whimpered, blinking at Sherlock, who smiled slightly.

"You shouldn't, by all rights. But they're torturing you, not experimenting. They know what you are"

"What am I though, Sherlock? What am I?" Jim whimpered, having realised he was stuck in a room with a real life Sherlock Holmes watching him.

"You're genetically engineered to help win wars. A strategist, Jim, that's why you could always mentally challenge me"

"I'm human..."

"You don't feel real emotions, Jim, you aren't human"

"Becky..."

"What? No, I'm Sherlock, remember?" Sherlock said, slightly confused, and glanced up at the window behind which he knew were a crowd of scientists watching.

"I love Becky... I feel love towards her"

"Oh... I see. I think I should be going now, Jim. Stay safe"

"No! Don't leave me here! Mean you might come back and shoot me in the head!" Jim cried as Sherlock stood and started towards the door. He paused, and turned back slightly.

"No more mean Sherlock for you. Mean Sherlock is gone" he said quietly, pushing his way back into the observation room. He grabbed the head scientist.

"You're in charge, yes?" he demanded.

"Yes... yes" the scientist mumbled.

"Get Becky in here. Prove that he is nothing more than an intelligent human and let him go"

"Alright, alright..." the scientist muttered.

Becky arrived an hour later, confused.

"What do you want me to do?"

"He claims he loves you. Right now, that's the only thing keeping him human. If you kiss him, then we will release him and not bother you again"

"But..." Becky started to protest, and Sherlock grabbed her arm.

"Becky, do this for him, please?"

"Alright... I think I can"

"You _think?_"

"It's not easy... you're asking me to kiss him and release him... but he only gets released if we love each other?"

"Basically, yes, now get in there and free him" Sherlock shoved her through the door, and Laura caught his arm.

"What's wrong, love?" he asked, turning to her.

"I don't think Becky can do this..."

"They're going to kiss!" One of the scientists yelled, and they all turned to stare through the window as Becky smiled at Jim.

"Only an act of true love can save him..." the head scientist muttered.

"Becky... I love you" Jim murmured.

"I know you do, Jim" she replied quietly, leaning down to kiss him and free him from the endless torture...


	8. The Future

Sherlock leaned against the window sill of the observational room, watching and waiting for Becky to kiss Jim and save him from becoming a war strategist for the rest of his life. Becky leaned close to Jim, but just before they kissed she pulled back with a sad smile.

"Oh Jim. If only there was someone out there who truly loved you" she said quietly. Jim stared at her, surprised.

"But... but Becky... I love you... please... _please_..."

"Unfortunately, Jim, I never truly loved you"

"No... _no..._"

Sherlock swore loudly, slamming his hands against the window sill as Becky turned away from Jim and headed back inside to the observational room. He grabbed her arms as soon as she entered and shook her.

"What the hell was that all about?" he demanded.

"Sherlock! Leave her alone" Laura pulled Sherlock away before he hurt Becky.

"You've just condemned an innocent person to being a slave in fighting wars!" he shouted.

"I'm sorry, Sherlock, but I couldn't do it. I never loved him" Becky said quietly.

"You could have lied you could have done something, anything, to stop this from happening!"

"I couldn't have, Sherlock. What made you think that they were going to listen to you?"

"Because I am Sherlock Holmes and everyone listens to me!"

"No, Mr Holmes. We don't listen to you. Time for you three to leave" the head scientist said.

"But you said... you promised that if he was kissed by the one he loved then he would be free! You lied!" Sherlock shouted.

"James Moriarty is being deployed to a Star ship on the edge of the galaxy that need his intellect. He will be fine. Escort these three out, please, they've over-stayed their welcome" the scientist turned back to face the computer, and Sherlock, Laura and John were led back outside, Sherlock with his hands cuffed once again.

"For goodness sake I am not about to escape and attack anyone!" he protested.

"Standard procedure Mr Holmes I'm sure you understand"

"I understand that but you honestly are going to let Becky go after that?"

"Mr Holmes, Jim had no chance of being let free. He knows what he is, he admitted it last week before we started giving him the fear drug"

"Right. And you never thought to mention that to me?"

"It was not your place to know. You're free to go unless the Proclamation ever needs you again" they released Sherlock from the hand cuffs, and kicked the three of them out of the car. Sherlock rubbed his wrists as they drove away, and Laura touched his shoulder.

"Sherlock, sweetie?"

"They're going to use him... it's all my fault I could have saved him... and they lied... he is only vaguely aware of what he is" Sherlock stormed inside the flat, flopping in his chair with his head in his hands and refusing to look up at anyone.

"What I don't understand is why you were trying to save Moriarty. He killed you. Sort of" John said, looking at his friend with concern.

"Because, John, my race crashed and burned in the Time War, and ever since we have been trying to ensure the same does not happen to others" Sherlock snapped, running his fingers through his hair.

"Sherlock, it's not your fault" Laura said gently, touching his shoulder. He huffed.

"I know, I know"

"Can we go in your TARDIS again?" John asked, and Sherlock looked up, surprised.

"What for?"

"Because you promised me we'd go and see stuff"

"Oh. Sure" Sherlock stood, and slid his hand into Laura's, before snapping his fingers. His TARDIS whirred as it re-materialised back into the corner of the room, and he headed inside, bounding up to the console, grinning widely.

"Now this is something I never thought would happen again! Me, my wife and my girl all back together, accompanied by my best friend!" he shouted, running his hands over the console and laughing. Laura shook her head, moving to stand beside him.

"So where are we going?" she asked, and Sherlock turned to John.

"John can choose" he said, before realising John wasn't in the TARDIS. "John?" he called, confused, as the door burst open and John came charging in with his suitcase.

"I'm going on an adventure!"

"War strategist, how long until the ship is within firing range?"

"Two minutes and thirty one seconds"

"Lock aim and get ready to fire"

"Yes Sir"

Jim Moriarty glanced back at the captain before tapping the control screen. He had managed to gain control of all the systems, and now it was time to put his plan into action. He had been forced into becoming a war strategist, and no one ever called him by his name anymore, and he hated it. He sighed, and turned the ship around, setting course for Earth.

"Strategist, what are you doing?"

"My name is Jim Moriarty" he said quietly, one thought in his brilliantly intelligent mind.

Revenge.

Revenge on the one who failed to save him.

Revenge.

Jim smiled to himself, and hit the switch that bound the other crew members to their seats securely.

"Hush now. This is a revenge mission. You are going to do exactly as I say... or I will kill your families"

"What do you want us to do?" The captain asked, fear in his voice for his wife and young daughter. Jim smiled again.

"We're going to get revenge on a former friend of mine named Becky"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

_Thank you so much if you read all the way to the end!  
_

_Any reviews/ideas for the future would be much appreciated as occasionally I get writer's block and then annoy everyone..._

_Thank you so much again :)_


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